Connecticut guard Ryan Boatright, left, defends DePaul guard Brandon Young during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in Rosemont, Ill., on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Connecticut won 81-69. (AP

Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, right, talks with Ryan Boatright during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul in Rosemont, Ill., on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Connecticut coach Kevin Ollie, right, talks with Ryan Boatright during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against DePaul in Rosemont, Ill., on Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Photo: Nam Y. Huh, Associated Press

Kevin Duffy: Boatright a rock-star hero in Aurora, Ill.

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ROSEMONT, ILL. -- A half-hour before UConn tipped at DePaul, Dejon Talbert, a senior guard at East High in Aurora, Ill., tried to describe Ryan Boatright's celebrity status back home.

"It's like every time you step on the court, his name somehow comes up," said Talbert, a J.V. player when Boatright starred for the East High varsity. "It's his court."

Soon after, we'd see the proof: Boatright, who had just scored 17 points and contributed three Sportscenter-worthy highlights in UConn's 81-69 win, was swarmed in the hallway of Allstate Arena. Photos, autographs, congratulatory hugs, the whole deal. As he attempted to get to the bus, the crowd -- a good number wearing UConn No. 11 jerseys -- shouted his name. His mother, Tanesha, held his hand and guided him to the doors, acting like a miniature body guard.

It was like a mob of fired-up parents in line at Christmas time for the new Furby.

In Aurora, it really is all love for Boatright, an exception to the statistics. His high school coach, Wendell Jeffries, has been at the school for 26 years, the past 12 as head coach. He estimates that four players from East High have gone Division I in that span. The catch: Jeffries also estimates that about 20 -- maybe more -- were capable.

Most couldn't qualify academically for Division I.

"A lot of these so called superstars or All-Americans, they feel like they only have to come to school a couple of days per week," Jeffries said.

Not unlike citizens of many American cities, the deck is stacked against kids from Aurora. At East High, where Jeffries also works as a physical education teacher, 70 percent of the 3,000 students receive reduced lunches. There's trouble all around, and Jeffries is forced to do a whole lot more than game plan for league rivals.

"I had brought on an assistant coach this year and he was like, `Man coach, we don't get to spend much time on basketball,'" Jeffries joked before Saturday's game. "Unfortunately, I spend 80 percent of my energy doing things other than coaching basketball -- like checking up on my kids' grades and making sure they're going to study hall, making sure they're doing make-up work, disciplining them for other issues that they have in school."

Before Boatright committed to UConn in Nov. 2010, the last player from East High to go Division I was Aaron McGhee, a center who graduated in 1997 and eventually led Oklahoma to the Final Four. Between McGhee and Boatright, about eight Division I prospects fell by the wayside, creating a success-to-fail ratio that seems incredibly low, even given the circumstances in Aurora.

That's why Jeffries tells his players after practice, "Go home and watch Boat on TV."

"It gives them something to shoot for." Jeffries said. "Everyone wants to go and play (Division I), but seeing him makes it more of a realistic goal."

That's also why Jeffries brought his whole team -- varsity and J.V. -- to the Allstate Arena Saturday.

Talbert, a 6-foot-1 senior guard, has spent the past two seasons watching Boatright in a Connecticut jersey. He remembers sitting on the bench for East High, looking on as Boatright torched 29-0 Benet Academy -- the top-ranked team in Illinois -- for 29 points in the sectional semifinal. It had been two years since he saw Boatright play in person.

Talbert got a treat Saturday, and so did the 8,662 fans at Allstate Arena. On a dish from Napier, a trailing Boatright drilled a 35-footer -- at least that's the distance Ollie estimated -- to put UConn up 29-22. He added a no-look, behind-the-back assist to Omar Calhoun on a second half fastbreak, then the clincher: A one-handed jam on a backdoor cut that opened up a 17-point lead.

Not every kid in Aurora is capable of that.

"Any time I come to Chicago I play better than I (normally) do," Boatright said. "All that love and intensity, it just brings it out of me."

While his vertical leap may be difficult to imitate, Jeffries believes that every kid can follow the example he's set. Boatright never missed school or practice, Jeffries said. And simple as it seems, he didn't follow the pattern set by so many in his city. That's partially why he's here today.

Jeffries hung a banner for Boatright in the East High gymnasium, which his why Talbert called it "his court." After a successful freshman season, Boatright returned for the unveiling of the banner in July, signing autographs and posing for pictures in what must have been a less-chaotic scene.

On Saturday, with his mother beside him and all of Aurora searching for an autograph, Boatright acknowledged that the East High kids today "look up to me."

"They come from our area, and not a lot of people make it out of where I come from, out of our neighborhood, so I try to be the best role model I can," he said. "I want to show them that if you put your mind to it and do the right things, you can make it."